One Track Sunday: Alexander Skarsgard Bares Abs For Free Your Mind

If you are looking to attract more notice to a song, one way to do it is to hire a sexy actor and ask him to take his shirt off. That seems to be Cut Copy’s philosophy with the group’s latest single “Free Your Mind,” which follows Alexander Skarsgard playing a cult leader in a really weird setting. The man’s professed being fine with nudity in the past, and I’m actually a little shocked the video doesn’t take things a little further. Ab shots are always nice, though.

The video actually begins with relative silence. Viewers get to see Skarsgard walking down a dirt road before the video jumps to a different scene where the actor is running through a forest wearing tidy whities. (I’m not sure if that’s a reference to Breaking Bad, but Skarsgard looks better in that underwear than Cranston ever did.) Later, we get to check out his abs as he checks on his disciples. At one point he even plays a pseudo game of basketball without actually using a ball. We also get to see his daily life—including pee breaks—and a bunch of weird stuff with electrodes. If you think True Blood can get a little crazy, things are even weirder in this music video. The video was directed by Christopher Hill.

“Free Your Mind” is the Australian band’s first single off of Cut Copy’s yet-to-be-released studio album, also titled Free Your Mind. The new album will hit stores on November 1 in Australia, November 4 in the U.K. and November 5 in the States. Free Your Mind also marks the band’s first full-length endeavor since 2010’s Zonoscope, although you may recognize Cut Copy's second album, In Ghost Colours.

The easy breezy synth track isn’t my favorite Cut Copy has ever put together, but getting to watch Skarsgard with long hair again is totally worth wasting six minutes of your life. Give it a shot. If you like what you are hearing, you can always buy the track over at iTunes. Additionally, Cut Copy is well into indie sensibilities, so if you are more of a vinyl kind of guy or gal, you can pre-order Free Your Mind over at Modular Recordings.

You can also take a look at some of the other One Track Sunday videos, here.